Helping others experience a more intimate relationship with God

What’s Good About Silence?

From what I‘ve seen, we don’t practice silence very often. From beginning to end our days are filled with noise and busyness. TVs blaring, Facebook comments to read and remark about, computer games to play, and tight schedules to meet keep us swimming in a sea of noise and distraction.

“So what?” you may say. “I don’t feel good when things get quiet. I like to be distracted by noise and busyness.”

In my case, I have to often force myself to practice silence. Sometimes it feels like a waste of time. I often think that I could be doing something more productive, instead of separating for a little while from the craziness of my world.

However, over the years, I have grown to realize that seeking silence is well worth the effort.

So, why is silence worth seeking?

Why Seek It

I think there are two big reasons to seek silence.

One is to know what is going on inside of us. We often are so distracted by our busyness that we may not realize that, for example, we hate our job and need to move on, are still hurt by being passed over for a promotion last year, or are pretending to be someone different to be approved of by a certain group of people.

Is this stuff important to know? Yes, if we want to heal from our frustration, hurt, and sadness. We can’t deal with problems we don’t know exist.

I used to dread going on vacations because the lid would come off all the issues I was too busy to deal with or was repressing throughout the year.

But now, by practicing silence on a regular basis, I am more able to experience and deal with the issues and feelings as I go along before they boil over into a tsunami of confusion and painful feelings on vacation.

Another big reason to seek silence is to hear the voice of God. God can talk to us through our thoughts and meditations in the quietness of our hearts during silence. God often talks to us in quiet ways, such as he did with Elijah. “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12, ESV).

We need to hear his voice to remember what reality is. A reality in which God reminds us, “I will help you deal with each problem that you have. I am God, and I can do anything well” (Psalm 46:1; Jeremiah 32:27, Paraphrased).

When we are distracted by our busyness or running away from what is going on inside of us, we often don’t hear what he has to say to us.

So, how do we seek silence?

How to Seek It

First, we have to choose to make it happen. Silence will not be handed to us on a silver platter. Conformity to the noise of the world is so easy. We have to make silence happen.

We can learn how to practice silence by taking an afternoon off a week to relax and quiet our jangled nerves. In that time, we can sit in silence for some time and discover what is going on in our heart and listen to the quiet whispers from God. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

We can also practice silence in our quiet times; car rides, coffee breaks, and walks. In the silence, we can discover in a deeper way to “Cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We can learn to let God more into our lives to give us peace and power.

May I encourage you to practice a period of silence this week. Take just a few minutes to quiet your nerves and break from running your world. My prayer is that in this time you will get to know yourself and God in a deeper way!